Surveys and Assessments

FCD is committed to the effective practice of prevention. We strive to give schools and communities the tools they need to set prevention goals, as well as to benchmark their prevention success. Our qualitative prevention assessment and quantitative FCD Student Attitudes and Behavior Survey, as side-by-side resources or stand-alone services, allow our clients to engage in prevention that is dynamic and data-driven.

Student Attitudes and Behavior Survey

Developed in partnership with leaders in research design and the social norms approach to prevention, the FCD Student Attitudes and Behavior Survey is a 50-question instrument built to scientifically measure students’ actual attitudes and behavior with regard to alcohol and other drugs, as well as their perceptions of the behavior and attitudes of their schoolmates. Available in a paper-based or online format, the FCD survey has been administered in hundreds of school communities and with over 50,000 students in the United States and internationally.

Schools taking the survey receive a 100-page report of by-grade, by-gender and by-risk-category analysis of student use and attitudes within their own communities, as well as detailed data appendices and FCD support in communicating survey data to students, faculty, parents and other prevention stakeholders.

The survey is capable of providing year-by-year surveillance of student use and attitude trends, and among schools who utilize it, the survey is a vital way to quantitatively assess progress in meeting key prevention objectives, such as reductions in student alcohol use, improvements to prevention climate, and increased student-parent communication about alcohol and other drugs.

Prevention Assessment

The FCD Prevention Assessment is a qualitative process for evaluating a community’s prevention efforts. The process includes a tailored questionnaire to be completed by a cross-section of the community, alongside a series of onsite, in-depth interviews and/or focus groups facilitated by an FCD Prevention Specialist.

An impressionistic process ending in a written report, the FCD Prevention Assessment—by yielding guidance, suggestions and recommendations on how to improve existing prevention programs, policies and procedures – can serve as a needs assessment, the foundation of a comprehensive prevention plan, or as an ongoing evaluation instrument to illuminate progress, unseen barriers or unsuspected areas of prevention opportunity.

If you are interested in learning more about FCD’s surveys and assessments, please contact us.

We work with virtually any scheduling structure, and can adapt our survey and assessment offerings to fit an individual school’s needs.